Snatching up the number one spot of my favourite part of a brand’s graphic library is definitely patterns. It may be my love affair with creating them or my overwhelming appreciation for all things surface-pattern related. Like wallpaper, stationery, fabric. Ah, fabric *insert heart eyes here* !

But back to your brand. You need patterns in your very own graphic library.

If you’re setting out creating a graphic library for your brand, you probably know you need a logo, colour palette, a brand pattern or texture and one or two fonts you use consistently throughout your on- and offline presence.

But why are all the style guides you’re hoarding on Pinterest showcasing anywhere between 2 and 5 logo designs for one brand?!

Those are the alternate logos for various applications. These ensure that your brand will be consistently represented, no matter the platform, size or colour constraints applied.

I can’t say I always wanted to be an business owner, or entrepreneur, or solopreneur or mompreneur. Or whatever other redundant term is the latest craze. I actually enjoy working in a studio environment and I absolutely love the connectedness that comes with having co-workers or teammates.

There is something irreplaceable in being a part of a team of creatives - something that sparks great and innovative ideas (I’ve found a few mastermind groups that come close, but no cigar).

If you’ve got this far on the blog, you know that your brand’s image is important. You understand that visuals help connect you to your audience by 1. eliciting an emotional response, 2. building trust, 3. Increasing brand recognition, 4. Setting yourself apart from your industry peers.

You want those things, that’s a no-brainer. And you know I’m a big fan of moving forward, making small decisions and working towards goals. So today is a great day to make some small changes to strengthen your brand’s image and start connecting with those right-for-you clients!

Choosing a designer can be intimidating. As with choosing any freelance professional, how do you decide to entrust a certain part of your business to someone else? But there’s something about creating, something about art that makes it far less objective than other professions.

When choosing an accountant, you’d like them to be great at their job: to know their industry and how it applies to your business and then use that knowledge it to the best of their ability.

This, I have found, is a lot less the case when hiring someone to provide a creative service. So let’s talk about attributes you should be looking for in a designer before you hand them your heart on a silver platter and ask them to create a visual language it understands.

To really understand why branding is important, you first need to fully understand what branding is. And branding is not your standalone logo. Nor is your standalone website. Nor your services. Your branding is the full package of your business. It’s the inside + outside:

The mission and strengths of your business

The values that form the foundation of your services and interactions

The tone of your language in your online and offline communication

The goals of your communication with your audience

The voice that you use to address your clients

The overall aesthetic and mood you present

The logos, colours and other stylistic elements you implement through your communication and touchpoints

Your brand is where everything that goes on inside and behind the scenes meets what your audience experiences and sees.